HRS § 232-17 - Appeals from boards of review to tax appeal court

APPEALS FROM BOARDS OF REVIEW An appeal shall lie to the tax appeal court from the decision of a state board of review, or equivalent administrative body established by county ordinance. An appeal to the tax appeal court is properly commenced by the filing, by the taxpayer, or the county, or the director of taxation, of a written notice of appeal in the office of the tax appeal court within thirty days after the filing of the decision of the state board of review, or equivalent county administrative body, and, in the case of any appealing taxpayer, the payment of the costs of court in the amount fixed by section 232-22, and service of the notice of appeal on the director of taxation and, in the case of an appeal from a decision involving the county as a party, the real property assessment division of the county involved. A notice of appeal shall be sufficient if it states that the taxpayer, county, or director of taxation appeals from the decision of the state board of review, or equivalent county administrative body, to the tax appeal court and may be amended at any time. The appeal shall bring up for determination all questions of fact and all questions of law, including constitutional questions involved in the appeal. In case of an appeal by the county or the director of taxation, a copy of the notice of appeal shall be forthwith delivered or mailed to the taxpayer concerned or to the clerk of the county concerned in the manner provided in section 232-7 for giving notice of decisions. An appeal shall be deemed to have been taken in time, and properly commenced, if the notice thereof and costs, if any, and the copy or copies of the notice shall have been deposited in the mail, postage prepaid, properly addressed to the tax appeal court, director of taxation, taxpayer or taxpayers, and, if relevant, the real property assessment division of the county involved, respectively, within the time period provided by this section. [L 1932 2d, c 40, §41; RL 1935, §1940; am L 1939, c 208, §7; RL 1945, §5212; RL 1955, §116-14; am L 1963, c 92, §10; HRS ; am L 1973, c 51, §1; am L 1989, c 14, §10; am L 2007, c 154, §2] Note The 2007 amendment applies to any notice of appeal filed after June 8, 2007. L 2007, c 154, §4. Rules of Court Filing appeal, see RTAC rule 2. Case Notes Scope of review. 34 H. 515. The determination that the board had no authority to increase the assessment at the request of the State upon an appeal filed by taxpayer was within the jurisdiction of the tax appeal court to make. 56 H. 229, 533 P.2d 1218. In appeal from board of review, tax appeal court jurisdiction limited to objections raised before board and any other issues of fact or law that were necessarily considered by the board. 81 H. 257, 915 P.2d 1358. The agency-specific appellate procedure prescribed in this section precluded appellants' resort to judicial review under §91-14(a); jurisdiction to hear appellants' tax appeal rested exclusively with the tax appeal court. 106 H. 318, 104 P.3d 905 (2004). Under the plain and unambiguous language of this section, it is the filing of the notice of appeal with the tax court that initiates the appeal, and not the filing of a copy of the notice of appeal with the assessor; thus, taxpayer's timely filing of taxpayer's notice of appeal with the tax court initiated taxpayer's appeal, and failure to file a copy of this notice in the assessor's office pursuant to this section did not divest the tax court, or the supreme court, of appellate jurisdiction. 112 H. 69, 143 P.3d 1271 (2006). According to the plain language of this section, as amended in 2007, a taxpayer must file a notice of appeal in the tax appeal court and serve the director of taxation with the notice of appeal to properly confer jurisdiction on the tax appeal court. 124 H. 325 (App.), 243 P.3d 285 (2010).